Quote:
Originally Posted by Top100EbooksRank
Waterstones has 4 choices
1) build its own ereader (this will cost hundreds of millions of USD, see Nook R&D expense for example. In addition, Waterstones will be competing against the Kindle in selling ebooks, which mean razor thin margin under wholesale It would makes sense under "no price competition" agency model with the guaranteed 30% cut but how long will agency last?)
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I remember a report from last year that Waterstone's was considering doing a walled garden of their own. Most of the commentary at the time was that they were at least one year too late.
Apparently they agreed.
It may also be that they've taken notice of the recent plateau-ing of reader sales in the US. Since UK adoption isnt all that far behind...
BTW, Waterstone's could have theoretically partnered with Sony...
...if Somy were interested in a tight partnership. (No way of knowing if Sony was even in the running.)
From the outside it looks like Sony only offers one model, a more limited ebook catalog, and higher operating costs as they also rely on ADEPT DRM and thus pay the Adobe Taxes.
Also, Waterstone's has been selling ADEPT epubs themselves (from before Sony launched their bookstore) so partnering with Sony wouldn't buy them any greater ebook share than they had before Sony launched their UK store, just the hardware revenue.
It might even be that Sony launching their UK epub store is what nudged Waterstone's towards Amazon.
If it is true that Kindle commands 80% UK reader share, they might be better off trying to get a piece of ebook sales from the Kindle pool than fighting Kobo and Sony for a piece of the 20% epub pool. And if Nook really shows up...
One could say Waterstone's is betting it is better to be a pilot fish than an anchovy.
